As Promised

I nearly forgot to do some writing here, but remembered at the last minute.

The wedding is only three weeks away and I leave for Seattle in only two weeks. My wo-worker, Jim, suggested a "boys' night out" and everyone thought that was a fine idea. So, we're headed out to a Brazilian steakhouse in Palo Alto named Pampas for dinner tomorrow (Friday). It will be the two of us plus a number of co-workers I've become pretty good friends with. Or, if not pretty good friends, then at least very friendly with -- and I do a lot of gaming with them. Regardless, they're good guys and I look forward to eating meat on swords with them. Plus, I've never been to Palo Alto, so I get to see a new part of the city.

Apart from that, things have been fairly low-key. I saved up money ($10 a week) for four weeks and bought a new boxed set of unpainted miniatures. I've already finished one of them and have three more to go. They're excellent for filling my time at home and painting is actually pretty enjoyable. I have to say I never thought I'd paint minis, but there you have it.

As usual, I've been watching lots of movies and TV shows, either streaming or on DVD. I worked my way through all four seasons of Doctor Who and now I'm watching Torchwood.

In the "real life" portion of things; I'm really excited to get home and spend a fair amount of time with Julia. I really miss her and although we have some decent phone conversations, but it's really not the same as being there every day. As if that even needs saying. Anyway, it's pretty hard sometimes, especially on the weekends, to be away from her. I end up feeling pretty bored and lonely on Friday nights, but I manage to keep busy enough over the course of the weekend that it doesn't bother me too much.

Sorry, I'm not actually all maudlin. I just happened to start writing about that.

Julia had her bridal shower this last weekend. Her sister threw it for her and they all had a ball. It was a mix of Julia's friends, including friends she's met through me, and family and friends from her childhood. Her sister or mom (I don't know which) suggested everyone bring a cutting of a plant from their gardens, so Julia could plant then in our garden. We both thought that was a great idea! In addition to the plants, Julia received all sorts of fantastic gifts. She loved every single one and felt very loved. I really wish I could have been the proverbial fly on the wall.

Time for me to make some dinner and get home to watch more Torchwood or play some Magic: The Gathering on Xbox Live.

Tomorrow

I meant to write something here today, but it was awfully busy, so I'll update tomorrow.

I swear.

Zombie

It's 8:50pm and I'm still at my desk (and I was here at 8:00am this morning) because I had some work to catch up on. If I had a computer at home I'd be there, but this is just as comfortable (probably moreso). The only drawback is the 35 minute walk home -- and like the headline says, I'm feeling a bit zombiefied. Ugh.

Last week at work was good, but the big news is that I had to pack up my office on Friday so they could move me across the street to the new annex. The company continues to grow pretty aggressively and a number of departments were shuffled to the new buidling to give us all more room. I think it'll work out fiine, but it does kind of stink to be away from the heart of the company.

Since we couldn't be at work this weekend, Jim and I drove down to Santa Cruz on Saturday and spent a couple of hours walking around. There's a nice boardwalk amusement park there. It's free to enter, so we did, and you can buy tickets to ride all the rides, which we didn't. Regardless, it was fun to walk through the park, look at the rides, people-watch, and relax. We also walked on the beach (and saw the ocean down here for the first time). After a couple of hours we hopped back in the car and drove back to the homestead so we could go to Randy and Amy's house for some gaming. We didn't actually do any gaming and instead watched a movie, had dinner, and talked (mostly about gaming) for the evening.

My D&D game is on hold for the time-being due to work deadlines for some of the players, but that's fine with me because the game hasn't been clicking like I want it to. I have to give that some thought, but I won't do it here.

On Thursday I fly home for my regularly scheduled trip home to see Julia. It's only been about a week and a half since my last trip, but this one was scheduled a while ago. Plus, it's really nice to see my girl.

Okay, time to walk home.

Surprise!

Julia surprised me with a ticket home last weekend, so I took off Friday night and spent the weekend in Seattle with my girl and no plans! We had a great time tooling around town doing whatever the hell we wanted.

Saturday we spent the day checking out rummage sales, plant sales, and cooking some yummy burgers on the grill.

Sunday we bought some things for the garden, then spread 15 bags of red mulch all over the front yard and wow! did it look fantastic. I'm hoping Julia can take some pictures soon.

Now I'm back on Los Gatos and hard at work on the game. It's going well and Jim and I have had a number of good ideas in the past couple of days.

I'd normally be running my D&D game tonight, but it was cancelled due to people being unavailable or just plain tired, so I'm headed home for the evening.

More soon.

Last Weekend

I posted last Friday about how I wanted to go home and spend some time with my girl and that feeling presisted for pretty much the whole weekend. Normally, I'm all over an extra day off, but not so much last weekend. I had a difficult time filling my time and I felt pretty bored and lonely the whole weekend.

I spent most of my time in my room painting miniatures and watching the first, second, and part of the third season of Heroes (which is much better than I thought it would be based on what everyone is saying about it). And really, you can only do those two things for so long before they sort of become a chore. With no computer access at home I had to walk to work to check email, get online, or work on side projects that require a computer. It's a pain to not be able to run over to the computer and jump online whenever I want. (Of course, I have no one to blame but myself as I still haven't purchased a new computer.)

This week has been normal; work, gaming, all the normal stuff. I just finished up some Green Ronin work, which was good and that seems to be progressing well.

Now it's 8:50pm and I have to walk home and figure out what I'm having for dinner. And considering I have no food at home, that may be a challenge. Then it's time for Heroes again.

Oh, nearly forgot! My grandma's 92nd birthday was Sunday and she just called tonight to thank me for the card I sent and to let me know how much she liked the wedding invitation she received from Julia and I. She's so thrilled and happy for us. That was sweet.

Home. Now!

I'd really like to be able to leave work and go spend the weekend with my girl. I need some time with her. Just because.

Instead I'll work on one thing or another all weekend and watch some Heroes.

I came up with a really great idea the other day. That's one of the things I need to work on this weekend.

Miss you, Sweetie.

Lots and Lots!

I woke up at my normal time for a Saturday morning and decided to see if I could find some things I needed.

Driving down the street I saw a sign for a rummage sale, so I found my way to it and found the first item: a folding TV table, actually two of them that I can use to paint minis in my room (instead of sitting in bed, which is really unfortable). I snapped them up for $8.

Then I drove to Goodwill to see if I could find a lamp to use for painting and a new shirt. No luck on the lamp, but I found a new shirt for $4.99.

Then I went to the hobby store to see if I could get a whole mess of cards to use at work for super-cheap. I talked to the guy behind the counter and he said they didn't really have anything, but we talked for a couple of minutes and then he said I could have the remainder of one of his card games for $20! It was a few more cards than I was looking for, but it was perfect! Mission accomplished.

That was all in about 40 minutes this morning. It was great.

This afternoon I spent $12 on a lamp to use while painting, so that process just became a lot more enjoyable. I'll probably spend much of tomorrow (Sunday) painting while my laundry is going. Wheee!

I also listed a bunch of things on eBay, too.

It was nice to get so much done today.